Wednesday, August 28, 2013

We're off this Friday on the second annual 'Smash Palace Shearer's Run' up into the mountains. This time instead of all going on small bikes we're all going on dirtbikes! So I've spent any free time I could squeeze out of this week painting my bike – see it how it used to look (bright blue) here. I actually ended up not minding the blue, but I'd always thought I'd paint this bike up and so this seemed like the time to do it.

My plan was to paint it these colours (black and gold) and then to hand paint some texts on the tank and also on the front mudguard... but alas time hasn't quite allowed for me to do that! Which is a bit of a fucker.

Also the seat, which I was planning to cut right down, I've ended up just having to quickly recover today so it's ready to go tomorrow. This has been really disappointing also, and is something I'll look at when I'm back. I dunno if the seat as it is will even survive the weekend to be honest!?

Watch this space for photos of our trip, it should be pretty bloody awesome with the following events being run:

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

So I was really excited when this showed up at my old man's house today. It's ANOTHER Hi Rider tank. Why another one? Because the last one didn't fit... see it here... it's a long story but basically I've figured out that it wasn't a hi rider tank but rather a tank for a P11 or a Ranger, or even a Matchless possibly. The tunnel was too narrow. I tried to modify it and ground away a bunch of the fibreglass until I had holes in the tunnel and then realised how much more I'd have to remove to make it fit... so plan with that one is that either it's a decoration or I may get it re fibreglassed and sell it? So yeah that was a bit of a fucker!

Anyway Once I saw that one in real life I decided it definitely was what I was wanting for the Commando, so I eventually ordered a (so called) brand new bare steel one off Ebay from this company in India – 'Shivam Auto Trading' (whose ID on Ebay is autospare.parts).

I was getting nervous when over a week went by after I'd paid them and I'd had no communication with them at all. Eventually I contacted Ebay, having received no answers to my emails from the seller, and Ebay managed to get them to respond to me. They sent me a strange email (which sounded automatically generated) and then a couple of days later I received a tracking number.

This is when things got good – I tracked the package and it got here ridiculously fast! They sent it on Saturday and it got here today (Tuesday). And so yeah when I went to dad's today and saw this package sitting there I was pretty stoked.

Check out the packaging, amazing huh. It came in it's own tin case. Very impressive. Unfortunately the good vibes end there though...

When I got the tank out it was different to the photos of the one I thought I'd bought. The one I'd purchased wasn't painted at all. It was oiled bare metal. And it was 'brand new'. This one is totally fucking rusty! And has obviously been painted grey very recently. The outside's not such a worry anyway, that's easily fixed and I knew it needed painting anyway. But the inside!? Fuck.

When I picked the tank up you could hear all sorts of shit rattling about inside, so I spent a bit of time shaking it about and all this metal (weld I think?) eventually came out along with a shit load of rusty coloured dust. Needless to say I'm pretty fucked off. I've been trying to get help through Ebay's resolution center but haven't had much luck yet (because they keep putting me onto Paypal saying it's their problem, and Paypal point me back to Ebay!? Anyone have experience with this sorta bullshit?).

Feeling fucked off and down I went to show Marty Winders, the guy who sorted the T150 tank to fit my Thruxton. Marty convinced me I could clean up the inside enough with a bit of work (stones, ball bearings maybe, and a bunch of shaking), and he also pointed out that, on the good side (if there really is one here), it is made of really heavy weight steel. Hmmm...

So I dunno what to do just yet, whether to send this back and try and get my money back, or whether to try my best to just tidy the insides of this one up.

Anyone else out there had experiences like this with these Indian dealers? I'd read a few good reviews about their metalwork, and I thought this was gonna be all ok, but unfortunately it confirms all the stereotypes I'd already imagined. On that note I better check it actually fucking fits onto the bike!? Argh...

Friday, August 23, 2013

My Soft Moon album finally arrived! Been driving round in my van cranking this all day long, really digging this sound right now, and The Soft moon are hereby inducted into HFoS 'Motorcycle Rock and Roll'. The Soft Moon began as a solo (bedroom?) project of one Luis Vaquez from the city of Oakland... lotta good shit coming from Oakland in last few years it seems, must try and visit sometime...

Monday, August 19, 2013

Just saw here that Fonzie's bike from the TV series 'Happy Days' is for sale through Bonhams in LA. Apparently it's been sitting about for 15 years and the guy who had it was unaware of it's celebrity TV heritage! I guess Bonhams would have checked its authenticity, but it does look a little different now – the handlebars, the tank rack, the pillion seat, and the muffler (just the heat shield maybe).

As cheesy and twee as it was I have to admit to quite liking 'Happy Days' as a kid, and probably Arthur Fonzarelli played some sorta part in planting the idea in me that I must ride an old British bike one day. Although, funnily enough, Henry Winkler, who played 'The Fonz', couldn't actually ride a motorcycle.

The auction is in LA on November 12... needless to say I won't be there.

Here's The Fonz riding the bike in the intro to the show:

And here's a bit of The Fonz jumping barrels outside the diner. God knows why they'd put the fried chicken stand at the run-off end!?

Friday, August 16, 2013

This came up in my newsfeed yesterday – here – I go this way to work every day but somehow managed to miss this!? The bike is a 2007 BMW R1200 RTP. There's no explanation of how/why this happened, but interestingly enough it was some sort of mechanical error it seems... rather than what I thought originally, that some passerby had firebombed it!?

Monday, August 12, 2013

Been listening to music and playing a lot more myself lately... partly cause it's been shite weather and so riding the bikes hasn't been so attractive, partly because I've fucked both my shoulders and it hurts to ride, and partly I guess just cause I'm just on the buzz at the mo... anyway...

Dirty Beaches new album has been on hi rotate at home lately. Really digging this and thinking very highly of Alex Zhang Hungtai at the mo. Welcome back Dirty Beaches.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Our new band Motorcamp (yes it's supposed to be funny for fucks sake) played at Tommy Chang's in Lyttelton last Saturday. This was our first song, thanks to Jimi for the vid. It's our version of the song from the 'pink room', the strip club scene in Firewalk With Me, the film by David Lynch. Hear the real one here. I thought Angelo Badalamenti wrote it but a lot of people say David Lynch did, so yeah whatever. I was having a bit of trouble with the guitar sound being first song and all, but you can't really tell cause I'm way over the other side there. Aaron and Tim are tight and on it as bloody usual!